Working Parents: A helping hand for women `returners'

Going to work after years at home takes confidence, and new skills. Sarah Jewell gets networking

Many women who take a career break to have children find when they want to get back to work that they have lost their self-confidence. They feel out of touch with the job market, and have not kept up with the latest computer technology.

Ann Gabriel, who took the "Professional Updating" course at the University of Westminster, is now working for the Industrial Society. She spent 15 years bringing up her children but before they were born she worked as an industrial journalist, and wanted to do a course to get back up to date. Initially she thought she would do "a little admin job", but then decided to go back into her chosen field. With support, her expectations rose: "Without the course I wouldn't have had the confidence to approach the Industrial Society. I think there were bits of me that were dormant that suddenly came alive again; the course bridged the gap between home and work and made the transition as painless as possible."

The Women Returners' Network was set up in 1984 by lecturers in higher education who recognised that women returning to work needed information, guidance, and often retraining.

Liz Bavidge, the director, understands how difficult it can be for a woman to get back to work after having children. She herself is a "returner" who left her job as an executive of an oil company in London and moved to Halifax, where after a period as a housewife and mother she found it very hard to re-establish herself: "I understand women who say that everything is passing them by, and their horizons have shrunk, because I was in that situation myself," she says.

The WRN gets several hundred calls a month from women who need help and advice, and Liz Bavidge finds that "often it gives them a real boost to discover that they are not the only one in this situation, and they are just delighted to talk to someone who understands". The WRN has a comprehensive information database on sources of help with training, education and finding a job, and its national directory, "Returning to Work", offers up-to-date details of courses.

One of the courses devised by the WRN, "Professional Updating for Women", is aimed at women with a degree who are trying to get back into their chosen field of work. The course is free, and is currently taught in 10 universities around the country. Diana Wolfin, course co-ordinator at the University of Westminster, is enthusiastic about what it has to offer: "I have to say it is brilliant. We care very much about all the women on the course and follow their progress carefully, even after they have left. We aim to help them regain confidence, and learn new skills that may have evolved since they left work."

The course teaches IT skills such as word processing and making spread- sheets, which, as Diana Wolfin says, "are some of the things which women who've been at home lack most of all". It also concentrates on image presentation and interview techniques, and includes a two-week work placement in a relevant area of employment. "The networking aspect of the course cannot be underestimated," she says. "It is so important to share feelings about lack of confidence. Even women who've been in senior positions lose confidence after six months at home." Most women do go on to get jobs, and for Diana Wolfin "it is the greatest joy to see a woman come on the course feeling that she has got nothing to offer, and then leave with a job".

Women Returners' Network, 100 Park Village East, London NWI 3SE (0171- 468 2290).